View from the right: The EPA

Comment

By Martin Fey

The Bulletin

By Martin Fey

Posted Nov. 16, 2013 at 2:01 AM

By Martin Fey
Posted Nov. 16, 2013 at 2:01 AM

Washington’s assault on freedom is taking place on many fronts, from the National Security Agency to the IRS. But the greatest threat to property rights and local control may be the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Having hit a congressional wall in his efforts to institute a cap-and-trade carbon policy, President Obama has ordered the EPA to begin enforcing carbon-dioxide limits on new power plants. Now it appears that the EPA plans to expand the regulations to include existing plants as well.

The new rules will make new coal-fired plants impossible to build. They could also sharply increase operating costs for existing coal plants, which supply 40 percent of the nation’s electricity.

There’s a price tag

The costs of this ineffective climate change strategy will be borne by ordinary Americans. That’s the expressed goal of Obama, who, in a moment of uncharacteristic candor during his 2008 presidential run, said electricity costs would “necessarily skyrocket” under his intended energy policies.

Now EPA over-reach is threatening again, and in an alliance with the Army Corps of Engineers. The EPA recently closed the comment period on plans to expand the corps’ jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act. In force since 1972, the law gives the EPA jurisdiction over “waters of the United States,” also called “navigable waters.” In the past this was interpreted to mean coastal waters, rivers, significant streams and permanent lakes.

But the EPA’s proposed enforcement rules expands that to include everything from roadside ditches to temporary vernal pools. The rational is that all waters eventually drain into “navigable waterways.”

Bad public policy

This means that farmers, builders, municipalities and homeowners will be subject to the heavy hand of the EPA, with its expensive and lengthy permitting processes and fines up to $37,500 per day for violations. It also opens another avenue for not-in-my-backyard lawsuits enriching lawyers and impoverishing land owners.

You might want to put off that garden pond you’ve been dreaming about.

Critics rightly point out that the proposed rules would get the EPA intimately involved in land-use regulation, properly the sphere of local zoning and wetlands boards.

Tea party-leaning members of the House and Senate are fighting this unparalleled power grab. Bills have been submitted in both the House and Senate to clearly define ‘waters of the United States” back to their original intent.

There needs to be a balance between property rights and environmentalism. The EPA isn’t just tipping the balance – it’s tipping over the scale.

Martin Fey, a member of the Quiet Corner Tea Party Patriots, can be reached at uniboardcorp@msn.com.